Borges 7/14/14

            The idea of there being alternative realities and alternative timelines is an intriguing one. It has fired the imaginations of fiction writers and movie directors for years, and is also the subject of scientific study. Quantum physics can even explain ways in which alternate realities exist and can be studied in theory. In the popular film series based on “The Matrix” there is a scene in which Neo (portrayed by Keanu Reeves) sees all of his alternate realities played out on little TV screens. In an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Commander Worf somehow winds up switching places with one of his alternate realities and has to find a way back. Likewise, there seems to be an occurrence of alternate reality in Zhang Ailing’s “Sealed Off.”
            The entire story has an odd feel to it, not quite Orwellian, but it is abundantly clear that it is written about another culture. Poverty seems to be more prevalent among the people outside the limits of the tram car, and it is so pervasive that there is a kind of depressed silence in the outside world. Inside the car are a random selection of people who, if not for their Chinese names, could be the people one might meet in a subway car in New York or on a city bus in any city across America. Two people, in particular, however, become the focus of the story, and this is where the reality shift takes place.
            Cuiyuan is a brilliant young woman who is feeling pressure from her family to find a wealthy young man and get married. Zonghen is a decade older and married, yet for a brief moment their lives intersect and they have a glimpse of another life in which they are together as unmarried lovers. That moment passes somewhat awkwardly, however, and at the end of the story it isn’t clear whether the episode really happened, or if one or the other of the two merely dreamed it. Dream or not, that moment could very well be seen as a glimpse into a different reality akin to Neo’s moment in “The Matrix” or Worf’s dilemma in “Star Trek.”

           

Works Cited

The Matrix Reloaded. Dir. Larry Wachowski and Andy Wachowski. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Hugo Weaving and Carrie- Ann Moss. 2003. DVD.

Roddenberry, Gene, and Brannon Braga. "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Parallels. UPN. Los Angeles, California, 27 Nov. 1993. Television.

Zhang Ailing. “Sealed Off.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 1346-1354. Print.